Prince Harry Says He “Irritated” Meghan Markle Before They’d Even Met Face to Face

Rachel BurchfieldMon, October 19, 2026 at 5:43 PM UTC

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on October 28, 2018.Credit: GettyHe admitted that he “cursed himself” over his first date faux pas.The Gist -

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle met up for a blind date at London’s Soho House on July 3, 2016—over 10 years ago.

Harry got caught in traffic and was 30 minutes late for their meetup, which he wrote in his 2023 memoir Spare, “surely irritated her.”

In their 2022 Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, Meghan said her first impression of Harry was, “I’m not going to sit and wait for him. I was just not interested in that.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s first date at London’s Soho House went pretty well—they had a second date the next night and have now been a couple for over a decade. But the Duke of Sussex said that he “irritated” Meghan even before the two met up face-to-face in July 2016.

Harry was already nervous ahead of his meeting with Meghan, who was an actress on the show Suits at the time. In his 2023 memoir Spare, Harry described being 30 minutes late to their first date because he got caught in traffic—something he admitted was no doubt annoying to Meghan.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on October 17, 2018.Credit: Getty

He explained his tardiness by texting Meghan that he’d gotten caught in “Horrible traffic,” he wrote in Spare (per Hello!). Her reply? “Okay,” he wrote.

“I told myself, ‘She might leave,’” he added. “I told my bodyguards, ‘She’s gonna leave.’ As we inched towards the restaurant I texted again: ‘Moving, but still slow.’” When Meghan asked him if he could “just get out,” Harry wrote, “No, I couldn’t. I wasn’t able to go running through the streets of London. It would be like a llama running through the streets. It would make a scene, cause security nightmares—nevermind the press it might attract.”

“If I was spotted high-stepping towards Soho House, that would be the end of whatever privacy we might briefly enjoy,” he continued. “Also, I had three bodyguards with me. I couldn’t ask them suddenly to take part in a track-and-field event.”

Prince Harry on October 7, 2016.Credit: Getty Images

But, Harry added in the book, “Texting wasn’t the way to convey this, however. So I just…didn’t answer. Which surely irritated her.” It all worked out, as he added, “She said she forgave me.” Meghan had dinner plans after their date, and apologized for having to go.

“If I hadn’t been late, we’d have had more time,” he wrote. “I cursed myself, got to my feet. A brief goodbye hug.”

In the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s 2022 Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, Meghan told her side of the first date story, admitting that Harry’s lateness didn’t exactly give her the best first impression of him.

“I was like, ‘Oh, is this what he does? Got it,’” she said. “Like this, I’m not doing—I’m not going to sit and wait for him. I was just not interested in that.”

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Meghan Markle on January 21, 2016.Credit: Getty Images

But after Harry finally showed up, Meghan realized he was “genuinely so embarrassed and late,” she continued. “You were a red, hot, sweaty mess.”

Harry and Meghan first connected after he saw her while scrolling on Instagram, noting in Spare that he’d “never seen anyone so beautiful” when he saw Meghan and a mutual friend. The friend made the introduction, and they began chatting about their shared love of Africa—on July 1, 2016, which would have been Harry’s mother Princess Diana’s 55th birthday. Their first date took place on July 3, with another one booked on July 4.

But for that first date, Harry wrote he ran in “Red-cheeked, puffing, sweaty, half an hour late.” He went into the room where Meghan was “and found her sitting at a small area on a low velvet sofa in front of a low coffee table.”

“She was wearing a black sweater, jeans, heels,” he added (per People). “I knew nothing about clothes, but I knew she was chic. Then again, she could make anything look chic.” He had “seen so many photos of her from fashion shoots and TV sets, all glam and glossy, but here she was, in the flesh, no frills, no filter…and even more beautiful. Heart-attack beautiful.”

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on September 25, 2017.Credit: Getty Images

“I was trying to process this, struggling to understand what was happening to my circulatory and nervous systems, and as a result my brain couldn’t handle any more data,” Harry wrote. “Conversation, pleasantries, the queen’s English, all became a challenge.”

After they ordered their food, “the conversation really started to flow,” and the “initial awkwardness was gone, the warmth from our texting returned,” he added. “We’d each had first dates on which there was nothing to talk about, and now we both felt that special thrill when there’s too much to talk about, when there isn’t enough time to say all that needs to be said.”

“But speaking of time…ours was up,” he wrote. After a brief goodbye, “Poof, she was gone,” Harry added. “Compared to her, Cinderella was the queen of long goodbyes.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on October 29, 2018.Credit: Getty

After the two back-to-back dates, the couple took a trip to Botswana together that sealed the deal. Meghan’s former agent Gina Nelthorpe-Cowne said that Meghan called Harry “a real gentleman, genuinely nice” after their Soho House dates, and added (per Hello!), “I’m sure that the Botswana trip is what clinched the deal. I knew that would do it for them—Africa has that effect.”

“They were so clearly already in love,” she continued. “She told me it was serious and they had started discussing the future.” That future is still unfolding—the couple announced their engagement in November 2017, 17 months after first meeting, and married six months later on May 19, 2018, at St. George’s Chapel.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”